Neuronal pentraxin 2 is required for facilitating excitatory synaptic inputs onto spinal neurons involved in pruriceptive transmission in a model of chronic itch

Kensho Kanehisa, Keisuke Koga, Sho Maejima, Yuto Shiraishi, Konatsu Asai, Miho Shiratori-Hayashi, Mei Fang Xiao, Hirotaka Sakamoto, Paul F. Worley, Makoto Tsuda

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

An excitatory neuron subset in the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) that expresses gastrin-releasing peptide receptors (GRPR) is critical for pruriceptive transmission. Here, we show that glutamatergic excitatory inputs onto GRPR+ neurons are facilitated in mouse models of chronic itch. In these models, neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2), an activity-dependent immediate early gene product, is upregulated in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Electron microscopy reveals that NPTX2 is present at presynaptic terminals connected onto postsynaptic GRPR+ neurons. NPTX2-knockout prevents the facilitation of synaptic inputs to GRPR+ neurons, and repetitive scratching behavior. DRG-specific NPTX2 expression rescues the impaired behavioral phenotype in NPTX2-knockout mice. Moreover, ectopic expression of a dominant-negative form of NPTX2 in DRG neurons reduces chronic itch-like behavior in mice. Our findings indicate that the upregulation of NPTX2 expression in DRG neurons contributes to the facilitation of glutamatergic inputs onto GRPR+ neurons under chronic itch-like conditions, providing a potential therapeutic target.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2367
JournalNature communications
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General
  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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